One Final Time
by Kelly Greyer
Summary: Jean Grey was just a teenager, and this was just a sport. And inspiration and passion was not supposed to be born on the shoulders of a single teenage mutant girl. But they'll still take it all from her, after everything they'll take it all.


A/N: Got inspired at 2 in the morning. now with only 6 minutes of power left on my laptop and no charger insight I give you this.

Jean Grey played the sport like no one else. And regardless of her grace and beauty they try and take it all.

In the words of a fellow fanfiction writer, I don't own anything but a ton of comic books.

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She always channeled the best of Greek Goddesses when she played.

She was strong and graceful, beautiful and showed a skill that no other person on the field could rival. College scouts bowed at her cleated feet, begging her to wear their colors and continue her dominance on their fields but she gave no hints of where she would turn to. She didn't parade her skill even though no one would look down on her if she did, because hell, they did it for her.

Jean placed her hands on her knees and tried to control her breathing. She stared at the green turf of the field as sweat dripped down the bridge of her nose. The cheers of the crowd roared through the arena but all she could hear was her heart beating in her ears. It was the last game she would ever play for Bayville High and she wanted to end her high school career dominant and strong. So that no matter what happened when it was over the people that filled that arena could never lie and say that she didn't give everything.

So that they could never say that she didn't fight and claw for every single second of that game.

Jean wanted them to see the pain and the want and the passion exploding from her like a volcano that had been active but silent for so long until it erupted and destroyed everything in its path. She would lay her soul out on this field one final time before she left the school and they began the task of erasing her and all that she had done. One more time before they took everything.

And they would take it all from her.

Isolate her and give her no chance of continuing the sport she loved. Never had a more talented player stepped onto the field and done the maroon and gold of Bayville high so proud, but it didn't matter. In the question of mutants, the game didn't matter. The beauty of the sport would never matter in their envious eyes that looked desperately for a way to ridicule and destroy her. To belittle every accomplishment that she had ever made on and off the field.

Yes, she was a mutant.

And yes her powers could greatly affect the way that she played the game and the grades that she got.

There wasn't a doubt in anyone's mind that Jean could just go searching through a teacher's head for answers like she was searching for change in her purse, telepathy could be unnoticed off the field easily. And on the field…

She could easily use her telekinesis to adjust the angle of the ball, just a slight move, enough to not be noticed in the high paced game but significant enough so that it spun past the fingers of the awaiting goalie and into the net. She could throw players off-balance with the blink of an eye, an attempt at a tackle becomes an embarrassing blunder as Jean speeds pass the fallen opponent who simply gets up and tries to ignore the heckle of the crowd. And the acrobatic kicks and jumps that often start with Jean being feet off the ground and end with the ball in the goal would be as easy and natural as breathing for her.

Her powers could make life and this game so much easier.

But when it's that easy you don't spend hours in the library during lunch or lock yourself in your room on the weekends when everyone else was out at a party to celebrate a crucial win that could have only happened because of you. You don't take the time to memorize elements and formulas, you don't challenge yourself, and you don't pay attention to detail.

If you took the easy way out you wouldn't feel the pain of the game. You would have never felt the burn of the turf against your face as someone else's metal cleats collide with your legs. You wouldn't notice every contour, every stitch of the ball that you kicked around the field. You would never keep going after everyone asked, _pleaded_ with you to stop. You wouldn't feel your heart beating out of your chest, ignoring the crazed yell as the crowd falls in love with you every single game because your performance inspired them to be better…to just keep going.

Jean never took the easy way out.

You couldn't fake the passion in her eyes. And even after they condemned her, looked down at her, and stole her accomplishments…she wouldn't stop. This was the game that she loved. The game that she had sacrificed so much for. They could take every trophy that she ever won. Strip her of every title and every grade. But they could _not_ get her sweat nor her bloodstains out of the turf no matter how hard they tried. For it was the very blood and sweat that she willingly gave up that forged this turf.

Jean Grey was the essence of this team; the epitome of the sport and their lies could not change that.

And they knew it was true. The cynics and skeptics called her a liar and a cheater because her grace inspired them and they hated it. They bowed as well, secretly, silently, and begrudgingly but they did bow.

The crowd is so loud tonight, louder than they had ever been. But they didn't love the sport. To them it would only matter for the two halves that that were played and then it was done. What they loved is why they couldn't figure out why she mesmerized them…because Jean Grey is just a teenage girl.

And passion and inspiration isn't supposed to be born on the shoulders of a single teenage mutant girl.

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A/N: There you guys go. Hope you liked it, if so please let me know with a review.


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